Wilson Signs Environmental Protection Bills

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Pete Wilson signed major environmental protection legislation Thursday empowering the California Coastal Commission to bypass the courts and order a swift halt to prohibited development.

The commission sought the additional authority in part because it was unable under existing law to step in quickly enough to prevent developer damage in the exclusive Sweetwater Canyon area of Malibu and up the coast at Big Sur.

Currently, the commission must go to court and seek restraining orders to put a stop to what it decides are violations of a developer’s permit, often a time-consuming task that allows the damage to continue while the court order is being sought.

But Wilson noted that the bill by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) will enable the commission and communities that have adopted coastal plans to act quickly to issue “cease-and-desist” orders aimed at halting environmental damage caused by developers.

“Too often in the past, the commission has been powerless to stop violations before environmental damage has been done,” Wilson said, adding that the new law, effective Jan. 1, will give the commission “the enforcement muscle that it needs.”

In what an assistant called Wilson’s “green day” for approving environmental legislation, the governor also signed bills aimed at preserving wildlife habitat along streams and rivers, responding faster to toxic railroad spills, reducing air pollution caused by burning rice stubble, and creating a planning process that would protect and allow appropriate development in key habitat areas.

By the end of the business day Thursday, Wilson still had not taken action on a bill being closely watched in Orange County. That legislation, sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) would make it easier for members of the County Board of Supervisors to condemn land for a new jail to ease overcrowding. The governor has until Sunday to decide whether to let the bill become law.

But the coastal bill clearly headed the agenda of Wilson, who as a state legislator in the early 1970s carried the first comprehensive coastal protection bill. Although it failed, Wilson has credited it with helping launch the successful ballot initiative in 1972.

The Davis bill, a similar version of which was vetoed in 1988 by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, was supported by public and private environmental protection agencies and opposed by the influential California Assn. of Realtors, California Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau Federation.

Despite the heavy opposition, Davis called the measure “very modest, but very much needed.”

To demonstrate the need for the bill, Wilson cited the 1989 uproar caused when developer Sheldon Gordon allegedly violated terms of his permit and graded about 560,000 more cubic yards of earth in Sweetwater Canyon than his coastal permit allowed. The case is still in litigation.

The governor also noted that the commission was “unable to deter or stop” the filling of 26 stream channels and the illegal grading of 8 miles of roadway at picturesque Big Sur. The developer, John A. Murphy Jr. and Littlehorse Ranch Limited, recently agreed to a $125,000 settlement that also calls for repair of the damage.

The governor also:

- Signed several bills aimed at providing safer rail transport of toxic substances and a beefed-up state response to train spills such as the one that occurred last summer near Ventura and Dunsmuir. One of the measures, by Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), will create a special “strike team” of numerous agencies charged with moving rapidly to protect health and safety in the event of spills. The program also expands the state list of hazardous chemicals that require special handling.

- Signed a bill by Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier), an avid fisherman, designed to obtain and protect rapidly vanishing areas of fish and wildlife habitat along California waterways. The bill creates a state “Riparian Conservancy” to oversee the acquisition and preservation of such habitat.

- Signed legislation by Assemblyman David G. Kelley (R-Hemet) that will establish a planning procedure under which government officials, developers, landowners and environmentalists would voluntarily agree on protecting wildlife habitat and designating certain habitat as appropriate for development. Wilson said this arrangement would enable animals and birds to be protected before they are threatened by “near extinction.”

- Signed compromise legislation by Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly (D-Sacramento) that is intended to help cleanse the dirty skies of the Sacramento Valley by gradually reducing the amount of rice straw that farmers are allowed to burn. Exceptions will be made if growers can demonstrate a hardship caused by cutbacks in burning.

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